It's been 50 years since Rickie Smith went class racing. This weekend, the drag racing Hall of Famer has returned to his roots while racing Competition Eliminator. 

Smith is racing his nitrous-injected Mustang in A/Pro Modified class this weekend. He made two runs on Friday, a 5.786 elapsed time, -.884 under his index, and followed up with a 5.764, -0.906. 

"It's not bracket racing, but I don't want to run so fast that I hit my index," Smith said. "If I run too fast I can still win, but it will be tough the next round. You got to be very calculating in this class."

Smith is learning quickly just how complicated Comp Eliminator can be. If he runs more than .50 under his index, he gets punished with the CIC (Competition Index Control). For instance, if Smith were to duplicate his -.906 performance in his first round against David Billingsley, his index will be lowered by .40 for the second round. His 6.67 standard will become a 6.27. Additionally, should he run another event, his 6.67 will adjust permanently to a 6.57.

"Just gotta be careful down there, you can't pedal the throttle down there with a nitrous car," Smith said. "But I'm having fun."

Smith said the last time he's run the "long tree" was in 1974. 

"I'm just making myself concentrate on the top bulb, when it comes on ... I mat it," Smith said. "Then I am mashing on the button to make myself a little late. I just cannot pay attention to the other cars because most of them are going to be 300 feet or so out on me. I just gotta stay focused."

Smith ended up winning the first round, running a 5.90, which was -77 under the index, in beating David Billingsley.

UPDATED - It only took two CIC infractions, but the doorslammer legend and Hall of Famer Rickie Smith has a bye run into the finals of Competition Eliminator. 

After demolishing the A/Pro Modified index in qualifying with a -.906 under and 5.764 elapsed time, Smith beat David Billingley’s Econo Altered with an “off-pace” 5.907 elapsed time. The -.763 under performance dropped his index to 6.41. That did little to slow Smith, who used a .03 light and 5.833 to beat Lonnie Johnson. 

Smith will face either Steve Szupka or Joel Warren in the finals.